Top ten pictures from the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Ten of the best pictures which tell the story of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

Fernando Alonso, practice

One year to the race since his last victory, Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth in his home grand prix. The liberal coating of flow-vis paint on the front left of the Ferrari F14 T reveals one of their development priorities during practice.

Valtteri Bottas, practice

Williams had their most convincing showing so far this season courtesy of Valtteri Bottas, who qualified fourth and came home fifth behind the Mercedes and Red Bull pair. He had to sit out the first practice session too while Felipe Nasr had another run in the FW36.

Sebastian Vettel, practice

Sebastian Vettel had more than his share of problems as well, starting with this breakdown just four laps into first practice. A wiring loom fault left him in the garage for the rest of Friday.

On Saturday his gearbox broke during Q3, and the consequent penalty for changing it left him down in 15th. Yet at a track where overtaking has previously been very difficult, he made his way up to fourth at the chequered flag.

Ferrari tribute to Michael Schumacher, Sunday

On the morning of the Spanish Grand Prix, 123 days after Michael Schumacher was seriously injured in a skiing accident, Ferrari remembered their former driver who remains in a coma in hospital in Grenoble. Schumacher’s first win for Ferrari was achieved at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1996.

Start, Spanish Grand Prix

Second-placed Nico Rosberg headed off in pursuit of Lewis Hamilton at the start. Meanwhile the field had their last look at the two Mercedes cars – until they came around to lap them, that is.

Esteban Gutierrez, Spanish Grand Prix

Sauber arrived in Spain with a lighter version of their C33 but any effect it had on their competitiveness was only temporary. Esteban Gutierrez qualified 13th and made up two places at the start.

But he could only hold off Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel for eight laps before they all passed him. By the end of the race Gutierrez was 20 second behind the rest of the midfield runners, with only his team mate, the Marussias and Ericsson’s Caterham behind him.

Lewis Hamilton, Spanish Grand Prix

Rosberg kept the pressure on Hamilton and by the final lap there was little more than half a second between them. But Hamilton held on and took the lead in the championship away from his team mate.

Daniel Ricciardo, Spanish Grand Prix

It was a lonely race for Daniel Ricciardo after he jumped ahead of Bottas early in proceedings. But after his disappointment at home in Australia he finally claimed his first official podium finish.

Nico Rosberg, Spanish Grand Prix

The two Mercedes drivers toast another satisfying contest between the pair of them, though Rosberg must be wondering what he has to do to beat his team mate.

@mjf1fan Indeed – it shows he also is clearly not there just to race, but to be fully integrated within his team. He has an interest in doing all he can to help with the car as well as improving his own driving, more so than many other drivers.

It’s that same innate devotion that allowed Schuamcher to be quite so successful.

And again it is also a very nice gesture: he helped with the entire process too of course, not just brining the car back behind the barriers. That is almost exclusively done by the marshals – I don’t ever recall another driver helping fix the car to the crane!

Totaly agree with you @vettel1, and as you stated in comments below, he will definitely be liked more at the end of season – I’m quite optimistic about it.

I think if Seb was in a Ferrari or a Mercedes , he wouldn’t have been booed at the podium every time last year. Its the way people hate RBR and add to that the Multi 21 case which led people for that outrageous reaction.

I have always thought that myself @deej92. Maybe it was just the simple nature of his ascent – he attained a good car perhaps too early, before he could cement a really strong impression, and kept winning for perhaps too long.

He lost his underdog status at a very early stage in his career, whereas drivers like Hamilton managed to retain theirs because he was pitted against Alonso, who we knew to be World Championship material.

I think he will be liked more so come the end of this season however, just simply because he doesn’t have the quickest car and all has not gone in his favour!

@vettel1 Exactly. For people to suggest his success was down to having good cars is to hugely discredit his talent. The Malaysia incident also didn’t help as people jumped on it, perceiving him as the pantomime villain, ignoring the fact he earnt the win and ignoring earlier incidents where Webber was far from the innocent party, e.g. GBR 2011, BRA 2012.

I always find Vettel as someone who you could have a laugh with if you met him, with his good sense of humour and cheerful personality.